1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to highway barrier module installation. More particularly, it relates to a tool that facilitates alignment of barrier modules atop a retaining wall.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A highway barrier wall is formed of a plurality of barrier modules that are placed end-to-end alongside an elevated highway or overpass to prevent vehicles that leave the road from falling. The modules are placed atop a retaining wall that retains the earth atop which the highway is built.
A piece of heavy construction equipment such as a front loader, an excavator or the like unloads the barrier modules one at a time atop the retaining wall. The heavy equipment operator works with a work crew until each module is properly aligned, i.e., the operator applies a lifting force to each module so that the workers can manually shove or pry it into a desired position and then removes the lifting force. If the alignment is unacceptable, the procedure is repeated until the heavy module is in an acceptable position.
The primary drawback of this well-known installation technique is that the heavy equipment operator and of course the heavy equipment must remain at the site of each barrier wall module until each module is properly aligned with its adjacent modules. The heavy equipment and its operator are billed hourly so substantial monies could be saved if the alignment process required less time.
The prior art teaches that elongate boards can be used during the barrier module alignment process. An elongate board is placed on each side of a barrier module junction and a through bolt is used to pull the opposed boards toward one another, thereby causing two (2) adjacent barrier modules to enter into flush alignment with one another.
The problem with this well-known procedure is that it can only align adjacent barrier modules with one another but it cannot adjust the position of the barrier modules with respect to the underlying retaining wall. Since a retaining wall is unlikely to be perfectly straight, the barrier modules will meander, flush with one another at each barrier module junction but collectively following a non-straight path of travel defined by the retaining wall.
There are no prior art tools that enable alignment of barrier modules relative to a meandering retaining wall so that adjacent barrier modules are not only flush with one another, but are also longitudinally aligned with one another so that the barrier modules collectively form a straight line even when mounted atop a non-straight retaining wall.
In view of the art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art how the known barrier alignment methods could be improved.